Shadow of Lyoko
by Overrunner
Summary: Alexandra "Sasha" Rose is a strange transfer student. Aelita is forced to rely on her aid since her friends were possessed. But how can she trust someone who knows about Xana and can beat a specter single handedly?


Aelita didn't know how to take to her. The transfer student from Russia. She was odd and made her nervous. Not to mention not a one of her classmates would go near her. The teachers loved her though.

But she had saved Aelita. Four times within the same day.

The first time was in the morning. Aelita had fallen asleep at the factory in case the Super Scan went off; since it had a history of going off whenever she wasn't there and even worst it was usually late at night or early in the morning, and Aelita had woken up to head back to school since it was almost midnight.

She was at the Hermitage when she had seen something. It wasn't the fully renovated house that was in brand new condition that had caught her attention. It wasn't the mysterious figure standing in the doorway of her old house that had caught her attention. It was the possessed man stalking towards her right as her laptop went off from the super scan signalling an activated tower that had caught her attention.

In her dazed and exhausted state Aelita didn't have a chance to run although she sure had given it a go and was mercilessly slammed against the hard concrete ground in the end. And as her vision began fading to black she had given up hope. She had deacivated three towers by herself but in the end working alone had been her undoing.

She was on the verge of tears when she heard a terrible shriek like metal on a chalkboard and saw her. The stranger standing in the doorway of her former house had appeared out of nowhere and almost effortlessly defeated the possessed individual and drove off the Specter.

Aelita had woken up 6 hours later to the sound of her phone alarm going off which was the time she had set for weekdays to prepare in the morning. The only proof she had of what had happened earlier was the bandage wrapped tightly around her forehead. A bit of uncredible evidence was the fact that Aelita was in her nightwear and she didnt remember changing.

The second time she'd been saved was minutes before First Period began. This time one of her classmates had been possessed. She had grabbed Aelita from behind a corner and attempted to drag her away behind the cover of the science building. And seconds into the kidnapping Aelita's mysterious savior swooped in and graciously knocked the girl out.

Aelita was conscious that time but could only gape in awe as the specter was driven from the girls body without any visible sign of struggle or unnatural powers from said hero.

The Fourth attempt had yet to come but would take place in the cafeteria during dinner. It would be Jim. He'd ask Aelita to speak to her in private. But he wouldn't try to kidnap her. Instead he'd try to interrogate her for information about her savior.

And she'd save Aelita again like the last two times and would return to her routine as if nothing happened.

But right now they were in first period in Mrs. Hertz class. Aelita had been carried in by two of her classmates; Emily LeDuc and Nicholas poliakoff who had seen her struggling to class and offered her help. Two of the few friendly students toward her since her friends "disappearances".

They were simultaneous and almost instantaneous, almost 2 months before school started. Ulrich Stern, Odd Della Robbia, William Dunbar and Yumi Ishiyama had all mysteriously disappeared one early morning with no explainable reason while Jeremy Belpois and Aelita Schaeffer were hospitalized. Jeremy had no visible wounds upon his body but was strangely comatose since the moment he was found and would continue to remain in his state for who knew how long to come.

Of course Aelita however was the unluckiest of the group of "friends". She was not found in her room but in the forest of Kadic academy by the groundskeeper. She had suffered multiple injuries from what had appeared to be bladed weapons.

There was a laceration on the right side of her ribcage front to back from what had appeared to have been a very large bladed weapon, a fire ax perhaps. Upon her chest was a long slice as if someone had taken a knife to her but hadn't pierced too far into the skin. It was as if the object had been thrown.

Across her back just shy of her shoulder blade was a slice as if someone had taken a swing at her with a machete or a sword. There was a perfectly indentical slice crossing just over the first one, a sign someone had either swung again or had been duel wielding the same weapon.

Lastly was the wound that greatly resembled a bullet on her chest resting just over her heart. Had the groundskeeper not found her at the time he did Aelita would never have survived the hour. By the time she reached the hospital the 5th mysterious wound on her face looked almost as old as the rest of her injuries.

Police questioned her extensively after she woke up a week later and continued to question her during her 3 week stay in the hospital. During that time many people visited her, mostly reporters and Detectives. Fellow classmates also came to visit her wishing her good health and a speedy recovery.

But the most taxing of the visitors were the families of her "missing" friends as well as Private investigators. The Della Robbia's and the Belpois's had been kind and understanding and Jeremies parents even extended Aelita an invitation to their home to mentally recover and recuperate in peace. She would reside there for a month after being discharged from the hospital.

No it was the other families that had brought her grief. The Sterns were brutal, Ulrich's Father mostly. Threatening financially in many ways and for many days until the staff had to request the Aid of the Police to keep him from seeing her so that she could have some peace.

The Dunbar's had not been any better than Mr. Stern before the Police intervened. Their son had been acting strange for a time since before his disappearance and it hadn't broken a month since he had "returned to normal" when the incidents happened and this not only brought them grief but also Aelita.

Aelita would receive many emotional and upset letters daily from William's Mother until the staff stopped accepting them altogether because of the deterioration of Aelita's health.

It wasn't until Aelita was put on suicide watch did the police finally intervene after Aelita tried to kill herself. It wasn't a threat from Mr Stern or a teary letter from Mrs. Dunbar that drove Aelita to attempt suicide with a scalpel she had acquired. No it was the quiet and soundless visit from the Ishiyama's.

Based off security footage the police deduced there was no verbal antagonization from the Ishiyama's. They had merely come to her room and had stayed nothing short of an hour. It wasn't until after they left did Aelita break down into tears and left her room, returning less than 60 seconds later slicing her wrists in full view of a nurse.

After being mentally and mysteriously cleared by the physician after only 3 weeks Aelita was discharged and would spend the next month with the Belpois and no continued suicide attempts ensued. The Belpois's reported good health to her Principal and she returned in time along with the rest of the students for the start of the next semester.

Her troubles had not ceased though. Continuous threats came in from Mr. Stern as well as unsatisfactory letters from the Dunbars and in all this Aelita found herself a new enemy with a classmate: Sissy Delmas. Like Mr. Stern, Sissy was fully convinced she was responsible for the disappearance of her crush Ulrich Stern as well as Odd Della Robbia, Yumi Ishiyama and William Dunbar not including Jeremy's comatose state.

Constantly Aelita would be verbally antagonized as well as find her certain school essentials missing like her laptop or gym clothes missing. The school teachers were oblivious to this ever since Aelita returned while her classmates stayed quiet, mostly out of fear that they would disappear as well.

Save for the special circumstance that Emily and Nicholas were helping at the present time. Nicholas, having grown fond of Aelita and disgusted with Sisy Delmas's bullying as well as Herve's obsession over the Principal's daughter had set out on his own and would remain one of Aelita's mutual friends. Emily, a friend of Ulrich had never believed the lies that Sissy spread and continued to remain friendly towards Aelita in their small interacitons.

Thanking them both for the trouble of carrying her to class, Aelita settled in along with everyone else as the time; now five minutes before the start of class drew closer to start.

Mrs. Hertz was nowhere to be seen and Aelita's "favorite" person strutted in, her usual smug demeanor about her as her number one fanboy Herve followed close behind.

Per usual she would start the morning off torturing Aelita. Today she decided to take a sharp left into Aelita's aisle and intentionally bumped into the rosettes bag that had been on the edge of the table so Aelita could pull her school supplies out.

Luck would have it Aelita's laptop wasn't in her bag at the time but in her room on her desk charging. However the same could not be said for the folder or the plastic pencil case containing her many pens and pencils that all loudly clattered onto the floor and scattered every which way.

No one made a move to help her as Sissy gawked at Aelita as if she were foolish and had done it herself.

Aelita said nothing herself as Sissy grimaced at her. "Clean up your stuff loser before someone trips!"She snarled, pivoting her heel on one of the papers that had slid out of Aelita's folders, and walked to her seat which was on the other side of the room. Herve followed behind and unceremoniously pivoted both his feet on Aelita's papers and even kicked a few pens backwards towards the front of the class.

While no move was made to help her everyone watched Aelita expectantly, awaiting a reaction. For what none of them could figure out was why she was so cold. So emotionless compared to her former self. For none of them knew what happened that day.

That the enemy she and her friends had been fighting had attempted to possess them all after turning Jeremy's anti-virus on them. The end result was that they were all virtualized onto Lyoko and taken to the core of Lyoko, Jeremy's consciousness included and there he successfully possessed Odd, William, Ulrich and Yumi.

Having barely withstood Xana's attempts to possess her, the evil AI; overloaded with power, turned her former protectors on her, each individually attacking her which caused her to devirtualize. Due to an overload in the scanners, Aelita devirutalized with her wounds and from the speakers Jeremy heard her pain filled cries and managed to initiate a return to the past.

The expected result that Aelita would be healed and Jeremies consciousness returned to his body did not happen. Instead Aelita, who had been out in the forest before the return that morning admiring the stars would pass out from her wounds and Jeremy's consciousness would be lost in Lyoko.

None of her classmates knew of the scar William left on her ribcage, or the pair Ulrich left on her back, or either the slice across her chest from Yumi or the over her heart from Odd. None knew the origins of the scar resembling burns on the right side of her face, mostly on and aruond her eye socket that had turned the skin a bone white or her eye a milky white from her pitiful attempt to defend herself with an energy field that Xana easily deflected back at her.

Her hair had grown to her shoulders in the 7 weeks since that day and while was maintained and neat, it almost had a dull and dark shade to it. Her once bright and sparkling pair of emerald green eyes were replaced by the oddly colored milky white right eye and the dead looking deep green left eye.

She had grown some 3 inches in her recovery but while her body had kept its healthy state she looked dead whenever anyone was near, her dark blue hoodie as well as dark red shirt and dark blue jeans further discouraging conversation if not her obvious scar.

Finished with gathering her papers back up she stacked them up before placing them back into her folder. She stood up to put the folder back in her bag when her torturer returned, snatching the file from her.

Aelita said nothing as Sissy opened it to examine the properly organized contents. Smirking, Sissy snapped it close and held it up for Aelita to see. "I'll give this back to you after class. Thanks for letting me use your "notes" from last night Aelita."

Just as Sissy was about to return to her seat and Aelita about to locate her writing utensils, a hand reached over and calmly took the folder from Sissy's hand while another handed Aelita her pencil case with every single item back in it.

Aelita blinked in surprise at the sudden act of kindness while Sissy whirled around, demanding to know who had stolen from her, her prize.

Much to both their surprise it was a stranger. She was taller than both of them, standing near 5'10". She had a pair of light purple eyes wih short black hair. She wore a dark blue jacket with a white and black striped tank top and a pair of grey shorts and she had a pair of sunglasses propped on her head. Her body was a little on the muscular side and if it weren't for the visible assets on her chest as well as her choice of clothing she could have easily been mistook for a boy.

She had a dark grey backpack slung over her shoulder and her current expression showed she was less than pleased. And she was looking at Sissy.

"I beg your pardon but I didn't hear any such words leave this girls mouth." She said in a cold tone, examining the name on the file. "Aelita is it?"

Aelita nodded calmly, eyes fixed on the girl like everyone elses were. Who was this girl? And how could she be standing up to Sissy like this?

Sissy opened her mouth as if to say something bun the newcomer handed the file back to Aelita, expertly ignoring Sissy.

"What'd you do to your head?"

"She fell and hurt herself because she's foolish like that." Sissy answered snidely, crossing her arms at the both of them.

The newcomer turned to Sissy, eyes boring calmly into hers which sent a shudder of Sissy's spine. She surpressed the urge to gulp and turned around with an audible "hmph" and went back to her seat. Without Aelita's "notes".

Smirking, the newcomer turned back to Aelita and raised her hand to examine the bandage.

"(It does look better than it did this morning)." She murmured with a slight chuckle as she motioned for Aelita to turn around.

Aelita blinked but decided it was best to do as she said. She remained stoic as the newcomer gently undid the bandage before tightening it back up and redoing the knot.

"(Good)." She nodded approvingly before turning and walking up to the front of the class as Mrs. Hertz walked in. By that time everyone was sitting down and the overwhelming feeling of normalcy returned to the class, bordering awkwardness as Mrs. Hertz addressed the class.

"Class. In case any of you are unaware we have a new student today. Could you please introduce yourself?"

"Alexandra Rose."

"And where are you transferring from?"

"Moscow, Russia. I was homeschooled."

Ms. Hertz nodded, having already known that much. "And would you like to say something to the class or let us know before the school year starts?"

Her finger instantly raised and pointed at Sissy.

"I don't like bullies." She lowered her hand to sweep the rest of the class with a cold and icey glare. "Or cowards. They're no better than bullies."

There was a mixture of common reactions. Some regarded her in anger, others looked sad or ashamed. Sissy was infuriated that she had been called out by a transfer student because now Ms. Hertz was regarding her with a disapproving eye. Aelita just gave "Alexandra Rose" a cool and calm look.

" _Sasha_ "

Aelita blinked in surprise. She hadn't said anything, was at the forefront of the class and her cool and almost smug look was directed at Sissy. But Aelita swore she heard her voice in her head.

" _My name is Sasha, Aelita Stone_ s."

Her gaze furrowed in suspicion now. And "Sasha" met this gaze calmly, a gentle smile on her face as Ms. Hertz directed her to sit beside Aelita.

Sitting down beside Aelita after her slow walk down the aisle that was followed by the eyes of everyone I the class, she turned in her seat and extended her hand out to Aelita.

"(It's a pleasure to meet you)."

In that moment Aelita realized something as she shook her hand. Each time Sasha had spoken to Aelita, she had spoken Russian. And Aelita had understood every wordof it.

"(Likewise)."


End file.
